A certain misadventure of level 0
by w27k
Summary: Kamijou Touma had always been thought as an ordinary, misfortunate high school student with a strange power in his right hand that could negate any ability. But deep inside him he had a power that could rival the god and currently sealed by the true power of his right hand. However, when a certain nun appears in his world, he realized that this could all be just a misfortune.


Prologue: A man called as the Illusion-Imagine Breaker

A town in midsummer…

That town was called Academy city. A city that is filled with a technology which made it called already advancing any human achievement for 30 ahead by people around the world.

As a result for that, most of the inhabitants of the city that is around 2.300.000 are a student. However, there is something specials about those students.

The fact that nearly all of them are Espers.

ESPers are people who gained supernatural abilities through the Power Development Curriculum. There was a ranking system from Level 0 to Level 5.

Level 0s are people whose abilities are almost non-existent, or no ability at all. At the extreme end, Level 5s are people whose abilities enables them to fight an entire army on equal terms.

But even though like that the city was nearly normal for everyone. The windowpanes of lightless buildings held the reflection of the street lights and revealed an appearance akin to a cracked magic mirror. The downtown before the station was a sea of dazzling neon. There were late night operating family restaurants, karaokes, and convenience stores. The streets were still overflowing with youths.

While innocently making merry and laughing, some of them would sometimes talk about trifling rumors.

It was a pointless topic aimed to distract themselves from boredom. This certain urban legend would be of the fourth apostles. It was the hearsay about a vampire that was said to be somewhere in this town.

…..

"What the fourth apostles?"

"They said that the fourth apostles was indestructible even for an immortal."

"Without possessing any blood-related brethren or any desire to control, he is accompanied by twelve monsters worthy to be the called the incarnations of calamity."

"He is said to be a ruthless and heartless vampire who is disconnected from the way of the world."

"He was a monster that destroyed countless towns in the past."

The black haired girl with flowers around her head tilted her head, "—Hmm, and?" She asked her friend beside her that was walking beside her with ice cream in her hands.

"Well… That's it." The black haired girl obviously said as the other girl smiled nervously. "Well the rumors in internet are still unsure but I thought that the fourt-"

"Ahh! Shit! Shit! God damn it! This is just too much misfortune!" A man cried cutting the black haired girl sentences as both girls turned toward the source of the voice.

The boy had the appearance of a young male, who was wearing a summer uniform for his school on and was carrying a convenience store bag. His age was around fifteen, sixteen years old. His appearance was like a normal high school student, which is indeed what he is.

He was currently running across the street, under the starry night sky where a few couples were seated at the benches available as they admired the stars together.

As he ran through back alleys late at night, he glanced over his shoulder.

There were eight of them and fighting innocents delinquent are out of questions so he kept running and running, he kicked over a filthy plastic bucket and frightened off a black cat as he continued running.

'It was July 19th fault!' He thought screaming to the sky.

Because summer break would start the next day, he was in such high spirits that he grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.

But, he had not expected more of their comrades to come swarming out of the bathroom and He had always thought that going to the bathroom in groups was something only middle school girls did.

"I had to run out before the hellish goya and escargot lasagna I ordered even arrived. I didn't even get to eat anything, but I'm being treated like a dine-and-dasher." He said as he looked at the sky. "What kind of misfortune is this!? Gyahh!" He screamed like a girl to the sky.

He ran and glanced down at his right hand. The power that resided there would be of no help in the current situation. It would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, it would not raise his scores on tests, and it would not make him popular with girls.

"Uuh…Such misfortune!"

Actually for him the rules that set out for a fight between high school students, anything beyond 1-on-3 was out of the question are not applied for him….

But nevertheless he knew that he was running away from them.

It's for their good.

He glanced down at his right hand. The power that his right hand had and the power that he got from 'someone' would be of no help in the current situation. They would not let him defeat even a single delinquent without causing a ruckus or it would not raise his scores on tests, and of course it would not make him popular with girls.

But it was just making him a short off like some ghost stories in the middle of day….

"Uuh…Such misfortune!"

If he escaped the group of delinquents, they possibly would have used their phones to call in reinforcements and bikes.

In order to simply run down their stamina, the boy had been letting them catch occasional glimpses of him as bait so that they would continue to run and wear themselves out. It was akin to letting boxers hit you to weaken them.

Kamijou's goal was only to save any possible victims.

If he could lose them and have them give up without getting into a fistfight, he would win.

As The boy alternated and weaved in and out through roads and back alleys while seemingly simply clumsily running about in a panic, he saw one and then another of the delinquents drop out of the chase, leaning forward with their hands on their knees.

He felt his plan was the perfect way of resolving the situation without any injuries.

"D-damn it. Why do I have to waste my youth on this stuff!?" He muttered as he glanced around him again. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but couples full of dreams and happiness.

Unable to stand it, The boy felt as if he had somehow ended up on the short end of life. The date need only change and it would be summer break and yet he had neither love nor comedy to speak of. It made him feel like quite the loser.

He then heard one of the delinquents shouting from behind him. "Hey! You fucking brat! Stop, you master runner!" The delinquent roared as a tick mark appeared on the boy's head.

"Shut up! You should be thanking me for not turning around and knocking you and your monkey-level IQ out cold!" The black haired boy shouted back despite knowing it was just a waste of stamina.

After another 2 kilometers of sweaty and teary running, he exited the urban area and came to a large river. A large metal bridge spanned the river, about 150 meters across, and no cars could be seen on it. Not lit up, the plain metal bridge was wrapped in an eerie darkness much like a midnight sea.

He then stopped: at some point, he had escaped all of his pursuers. "Da-damn did I finally be able to kick them out?" He asked panting.

"Really now, what are you doing? Do you think protecting those delinquents makes you a good person? Are you some overzealous teacher?"

Because the bridge had no lights, the boy had not noticed the girl standing about 5 meters ahead in the direction he had been running, a completely normal middle school girl wearing a gray pleated skirt, a short-sleeved blouse, and a summer sweater.

The boy stared up into the sky and seriously considered collapsing onto his back. The girl before him was the same one from the family restaurant. "So that's why they stopped chasing me?" He said as the girl swept her hair that produces some lightning.

"Yeah. They annoyed me, so I roasted them." The girl said as the boy sighed again.

July 19th. That was why he had grabbed a manga at the bookstore despite a glance at the cover telling him it was no good, entered a family restaurant to treat himself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack, found a middle school-aged girl surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.

However, The boy had not a single thought about rescuing the girl. Instead, had tried to rescue the boys who had carelessly approached her.

Once again he sighed. The girl was always like that. He had seen her here and there sporadically for almost a month, but they had yet to learn each other's names. In other words, they were by no means friends.

"I hope you didn't end up killing them. Alright, I have to go no-"

"Wait a minute."

"What?"

"Our duel! I cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than me. That is enough of a reason." She said as she folded her hands. "But you're treating me like an idiot, too. I'm a Level 5. Do you really think I would go all out against a powerless Level 0? I do know how to handle the weak."

The boy sighed again. In that city, the usual standard of a back alley delinquent being the strongest in a fight did not hold up. Those delinquents who could not keep up with the psychic powers development Curriculum were the Level 0s, the powerless.

"Yeah, about that, I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 have." HE said with a very bored tone. "I really do. But if you want to live a long life, you should stop speaking to people so condescendingly."

"Shut up. If you couldn't bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or have electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain, what could it be but lack of talent?"

"…"

That was indeed the kind of place Academy City was.

The other side of Academy City could be seen in how means of developing the brain had been calmly added into the Curriculum under the name of "documentation methods" or "memorization methods".

However, not all of the 2.3 million students living in Academy City had ceased to be human and became something like a manga protagonist.

"If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers, and if I need fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone?" He said with serious tone because he always thought his power like that also. "Are psychic powers really that great?"

In response, the girl who was one of Academy City's seven Level 5s twisted the edges of her lips as she released a lightning current. "…For God's sake, those are the words of the strong." He said a bit annoying.

"Hah?"

"The strong. The strong. The strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga protagonist who was born with his abilities and does not understand the pain of arriving there on his own." She said with angry tone.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Take a look at the results of the annual physical examination. I'm a Level 0 and you're a Level 5. Ask anyone you find out on the streets, and they'll tell you who's stronger!"

That was his best shot to run from her…. Using his level academic to run from a nonsense fight.

"Zero, you say," repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. "Have you ever heard the term Railgun?"

"Ahn?"

"The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train. It is a ship-borne weapon that uses powerful electromagnets to fire a metal projectile."

The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb. "It refers to something like this."

Just as she spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou's head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl's thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it. The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after travelling a 30 meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.

"Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction." She explained as the boy looked at the bridge with wide eyes. That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.

"Damn you. Don't tell me you used that to drive them away!"

"Don't be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don't want to accidentally become a murderer." As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl's brown hair like an electrode. "This was enough for those Level 0s!"

Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl's bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards The boy.

There was no way to evade. After all, he was against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5's hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then trying to dodge it

The black haired boy raised his right hand as he slammed his right hand to the lightning spear and destroyed it with ease. "Then why are you completely unhurt, huh? Level 0." She said looking at the boy.

Like already explained above, actually the boy could destroy or beat those delinquents with ease and that level five. Because he was indeed the fourth apostles in the rumor that was spreading around the Academy city, so basically he had the power that didn't lose to anyone.

But he had second abilities that he had before he became the fourth apostles.

Imagine Breaker.

Psychic powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. Anything using that kind of supernatural power, even if it were part of god's system, would be negated without question by that supernatural power of his.

As it was supernatural in origin, even that girl's Railgun ability was no exception.

"Honestly, what's with you? That power of yours isn't listed in Academy City's Bank. If I'm a one in 328,571 genius, then you're a one in 2,300,000 disaster," The girl muttered in annoyance but The boy neglected to give even a single word in response. "If I pick a fight with an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don't you think?"

But he didn't say something except smiling fearless. "I guess you could say that was either some misfortune or you're just unlucky." He said as his eyes blazing in crimson color.

And that was how Kamijou Touma's 19th July ended.


End file.
